Google Blocks Anti-Islam Video in Libya and Egypt

Not because the video meets the company's definition of hate speech, reports the New York Times, but because the company wants to help quell the violence in those two countries.

Google’s action raises fundamental questions about the control that Internet companies have over online expression. Should the companies themselves decide what standards govern what is seen on the Internet? How consistently should these policies be applied?

“Google is the world’s gatekeeper for information so if Google wants to define the First Amendment to exclude this sort of material then there’s not a lot the rest of the world can do about it,” said Peter Spiro, a constitutional and international law professor at Temple University in Philadelphia. “It makes this episode an even more significant one if Google broadens the block.”

Did Google do the right thing?

Yes

No

I am still trying to figure out whether our country's First Amendment applies to Egypt and Libya in this case